What is Arsenal’s best starting team?
Things are getting pretty boring, so I thought I’d throw out a question that might get a bit of hearty, non-England-losing-to-Russia related discussion going.
It’s a pretty simple actually, but one that I think will divide opinion amongst a lot of supporters:
When the entire squad is available, what is Arsenal’s best starting team?
Would you have Gilberto Silva or Mathieu Flamini? Would Eduardo da Silva play in a three-pronged attack alongside Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie? Maybe Alexandre Song would even make it into your team ahead of William Gallas.
I’ve included my preferred starting team and, as always, I’m very keen to hear what you think. I can already feel the backlash from the inclusion of Manuel Almunia in my side.
Let me know your best Arsenal starting team by leaving a comment.
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Comments
Very true. I think we’ve done well this season largely because our back five has been quite settled. I see no reason to change it now.
I fully back your team but although Flamini has been more aggressive upfront Gilberto is my preffered man. let’s wait and see ……
RVP, Gallas, Senderos and Rosicky will not be featuring in the Bolton game and i prefer we use Eduardo, Gilberto for Gallas/Senderos and Abou Diaby for Rosicky since Bolton will be very physical and defend to throughout the gams ( Read RVP comments on tribalfootball.com )
Arsenal to win the game by 3 - 0
almunha
sagna toure gallas clichy
rosicky diarra fabregas hleb
van p ade
I believe that diarra will take us to another level not reached yet. He is mixed between essienne and makelle. Flamini is good but he went missing in the sunderland game. He does just enough right now and we are winning. But wenger has brought diarra for a reason. Gilberto will go to valencia. Lehman will go also. I believe diarra is more intelligent in his all round play. When we played chelsea we had no joy going through diarra and thats when i knew he is impressive.
RVP Ade Eduardo - Cesc Hleb Rosicky - Sagna Gallas Toure Clichy - Lehmann (yeah, that’s right bitches)
I love it how everyone has their own team, and they’re all a little different to mine 
Lehmann in goals, Chris? We might get started again like a couple of days ago!! The suggestion about Diarra in midfield is interesting, but at this stage I don’t think he’s first choice. If Flamini is not available or the team needs a calming influence then Gilberto is the man.
thats the best starting line up that we have had so far but game agains man u liverpool i would prefer gilberto rather tha flamini silva is more of a pressure guy lets pray and hope that rvp is not out for that injury not again
Arsenal’s best starting team!!!!!
Lehmann
Sagna
Clichy
Toure
Gallas
Flamini
Hleb
Fabregas
Adebayor
Van Persie
Rosicky
haha sorry spanish fry. we’re both spanish (well i’m not full) but i’m still not convinced about our boy, almunia.
Haha, Chris, I’m Australian!! Not a drop of Spanish blood in me. I’m not fully convinced by him either but he deserves to play in front of “Mr Perfect” Lehmann…
I looked at your team for a moment there, Jos, and thought it was the same as mine. Alas, Lehmann is included. 
I think what you have listed is probably the best team but just like the last few seasons the chances of Wenger being able to play his best 11 more than a hand full of times is quite slim. I would swap Eduardo for RVP’s injury and play Gilberto next to Kolo if Senderos is injured and play Diaby in a 3 man midfield with Diarra the holding/link up player, so a 4-1-3-2 formation of:
Almunia
Sagna-Toure-Gilberto-Clichy
Diarra
Diaby-Flamini-Fab
Eduardo-Ade
Almunia
Sagna Toure Gallas Clichy
Hleb Fabregas Flamini Rosicky
Adebayor RVP
Subs: Lehmann, Walcott, Eduardo, Eboue, Gilberto
almunia - eboue, toure, gallas, clichy - hleb, fabregas, gilberto, flamini, - ade, rvp.
or to beef up the attack plat a 4 - 3 -3 with
lehmann (because he scares the opposition), eboue, toure, gallas, clichy - helb, fabregas, flamini - ade, edu (behind), rvp.
i think eboue got demoted to sanga a bit too easily. eboue was pretty good against sunderland. rosicky should be given the rest of the season to prove his strength and resilience to injury otherwise trade him. there is little point having a player getting paid to soak up the medical staff’s time and warm the bench.
p.s. BRING ON BOLTON!
ColonelMarquand - I think playing a midfield with Diarra, Fabregas, Flamini and Diaby is far too narrow, at least one of the wingers must play.
—
tom - I have to say I don’t agree with the comment about Eboue being demoted to easily. He was a weakness last season and Sagna’s excellent start to this season has shown us how much of an improvement he is. Unless he loses a drastic amount of form I think Sagna will play for the rest of the campaign, and deservedly so.
—
natsteel - Great lineup 
I think the personnel are good but I have problem with the formation, I still insist Helb should play behind the strickers if we have to have handful of goals per match, bse he is sort of a guy who bambuzels and torments defence with his incredible skills.
best line up is:
Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Toure-Clichy
Flamini
Hleb-Rosicky
Fabregas
RVP-Ade
OR
Almunia
Sagna-Gallas-Toure-Clichy
Walcott-Fabregas-Gilberto-Rosicky
RVP-Eduardo
Spanish Fry - I’ll add a bit of variation to this argument - this is the lineup that sees me beat every contender in Fifa08
Eboue, Toure, Gallas, Clichy
Fabgregas, Gilberto, Rosicky
Eduardo, Adebayor, Van Persie
Adebayor destroys teams in the centre of the attack with his aerial prowess.
Lehmann is ahead of Almunia in terms of goal keeping.Let’s forget about the mistakes,Lehmann is the best keeper to be in the post for Arsenal at the moment.
Andrew,on current form,Jos team is right.
Lehmann,Lehmann,Lehmann,Lehmann,Lehmann is the best keeper in the premiership at the moment.
@ Spanish Fry - we haven’t got any real wingers, all we have is a collection of very similar central midfielders. Also with a 3 man midfield and Diarra or Gilberto as the holding/link man in front of the back 4 allows the clubs only real wingers Sagna and Clichy to get forwards and act like wingers. However if it is a 4 man midfield then I’d put Eboue on the right. Please, no more Diaby as a left winger it’s painful watching such a good player struggle so badly.
i think i would go with urs Spainish Fyry but i do believe its a matter of time before Diarra takes over Flamini’s role,but with their varied type of play it will be habdy to have Diarra,Flamster and Denilson(signed a new long term contract) as stand-bys because i feel we have to hold on to Gilberto until end of season and by then Diarra would have shown that Flamster and him will be fightin permanently for a berth alongside CESC.its going to be interesting to see how Ade and Dudu play together, iexpected us to have an injury its a pity it was Van Persie coz he had jus found his touch and role in the team and started firing on both cylinders again.
Lehman
Sagna (Eboue)
Toure
Gilberto Silva
Clichy
Flamini (Denilson)
Fabregas
Hleb
Rociky (Diaby, Walcott)
Van Persie
Adebayor
Arsenal best starting eleven: Almunia, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Sagna:: Hleb, Gilberto, Fab, Rosicky:: RVP, Eduardo
I’m really gutted about RVP’s injury. Not Happy at all at the moment.That’s international duty for you.Does anyone here really cares about Who wins the euro2008.
By the way SF you nailed that selection. Spot on .One thing about the goalkeeper I don’t like neither of them (both rubish)so I don’t really care who is in goal.
I think International football is great when it’s about qualifying for major tournaments or actually competing in the tournaments, it’s the friendlies that causes the problems. And although I’m Australian I do care about who wins Euro 2008, seeing as though I’ve been a supporter of Holland since I started watching football. Either way, van Persie’s injury is annoying.
The talk about Diarra taking over from Flamini is very interesting. A lot of you seem to think he will take Arsenal to the next level and provide something that Flamini can’t. Although it’s a possibility, I don’t believe there’s any guarantee that this will be the case. I think we all need to see a little more of Diarra play at the top level before a judgment about his long-term future at Arsenal can be made.
what about a dynamic formation? - 1. 4-4-2 in defence and: 2. 3-4-3 in attack
1. lehmann - sanga, toure, gallas, clichy - walcott, fabregas, flamini, hleb, - ade/rvp.
2. lehmann - sanga, gallas, clichy, - walcott, fabregas, toure, flamini - helb (behind strikers) rvp/ade.
I like the idea of Hleb in behind the strikers but at the end of the day I think we have enough firepower for him to stay on the right. He and Rosicky take turns to get in behind the strikers anyway so in many ways your formation is similar to what already happens. No Lehmann’s, though!!
Bendtner must feel a little better about things I have to say. Now is his chance to impose himself on the team. Though Eduardo and Adebayor will complement each other very well and become an excellent duo for dealing with scrappier teams, Bendtner is a total bludgeon. He scares the crap out of defenders and he just might make his mark against Bolton on Saturday.
All this talk about formations rather goes out the window when we’re talking about Arsenal. At times it’s a 4-4-2, others a 2-4-4, really kinda’ like the 2003/04 team. Roma played some of the best football in Europe last season, and they pretty much played with no strikers. Chelsea can play 4 strikers and they’re still horrible and defensive.
Spanish Fry: I think a lot of the Diarra talk is based on his potential. He and Diaby have been touted as the next great France midfield, at least that’s what some guy from ESPN Soccertw*t said. I think they are both more naturally talented than Flamini, but Flamini brings real steel and toughness to the team. He reminds me a lot of Ray Parlour in that when he’s present, the team just has a different look.
Though Wenger isn’t jam-packing as much raw ability onto the pitch as possible, the mix is perfect.
On a side note, Drogba is leaving soon. Senderos is somewhere rubbing peanut butter all over his bald head.
Or something like that.
rvp is injured
arsenal.com:
“Robin van Persie
Robin van Persie has suffered a knee injury while away with Holland. Early indications show the striker faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines. “It is a big blow. Robin is a striker, a supportive striker and important on set-pieces as well,” said Arsène Wenger. “I hope he will be back soon and we’ll do the maximum to get him back.” “
You wrote Toure and Gallas the wrong way round on your tem sheet. Don’t get me wrong it’s no big deal but they always do that in Pro Evo and it’s annoying.
Generall I’d say exactly what our current team is with the arrival of Rosicky and Gallas (possibly)
I agree with your starting team. Almunia has to be in the starting team at the moment. After Lehmann’s two mistakes and Almunia’s pretty good performances so far, it would be hard for Wenger to suddenly bring Lehman back in. Another problem is that there is hardly ever the time when our entire squad is fit; there are alwasy little niggles which keeps out star players.